A West Penn Township resident filed an appeal Feb. 28 asking supervisors to revoke a zoning permit issued two years ago for a water extraction operation.

The permit was issued Jan. 13, 2015, to David Knoedler of Ringgold Acquisition Group II for property at One Fort Franklin Road.In her appeal, resident Allison McArdle listed a number of reasons for the revocation request, including the lack of applications to other government agencies even two years after the fact."They have not received or even applied for a permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for the use of the water extracted for human consumption," McArdle wrote. "No permit has been granted, nor has any application even been made to the Delaware River Basin Commission. No land development plan has been filed with the township. Erosion and sedimentation plans have not been filed with the Schuylkill County Conservation District Office."McArdle believes that the Ringgold Acquisition Group misrepresented the intended use of the property by listing it as agriculture on the zoning application.The land, she said, is also used as a loading terminal for up to 100 tractor-trailers per day."Water extracted from the premises has been transported for nonagricultural uses, including but not limited to the Niagara water bottling facility," she added.While the permit application called for the redevelopment of the existing springs on the property, McArdle's appeal indicated there are "seven new, deep wells on the premises."She cited a Bethel Township case where the Commonwealth Court reviewed a water extraction operation "similar to (the Fort Franklin Road site) and determined that the proposed use is far more intensive than any agricultural use and is much akin to a mining operation in which resources or minerals are extracted from the ground and then shipped off the property by truck."Water extraction has been a hot topic for several years at West Penn meetings and a group of residents held a peaceful protest earlier this year."West Penn Township has not provided proper notice to myself or to any other township resident that a large truck oriented facility was going to open and operate from the premises," McArdle added.The next township supervisors meeting is scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m.